Many structural systems, e.g., mobile platforms such as aircraft, trains, ships, buses, etc., employ actuators, e.g., electro-mechanical actuator (EMAs), to control the movement of various components of the structural system. For example, actuators can be utilized in aircraft to control the movement of access doors, landing gear, flight control surfaces, and other aircraft components. Throughout the operational life of an actuator, mechanical wear, sometimes referred to as ‘freeplay’, increases in the actuator motors, bearings, gears, and other elements of the actuator drive train. Such wear is difficult to measure and to predict, resulting in the need for periodic ground-based tests. Typically, actuator testing requires unique ground-based support equipment and is very time consuming to conduct. Additionally, some implementations of actuators, e.g., aircraft actuators or EMAs, may require freeplay/mechanical wear measurement as frequently as every fifty hours of use, and each set of measurements may take eight to sixteen maintenance man-hours to complete. Often times the structural system must be shut down or otherwise rendered inoperable during mechanical wear testing. For example, an aircraft is typically unavailable for flight during freeplay testing. In some cases, wear can only be assessed in a laboratory, necessitating complete removal of functioning equipment from the structural system. The maintenance hours required, the maintenance training to conduct the wear tests, the equipment to conduct the tests, and the down time of the structural system all add significant monetary and temporal costs to actuator freeplay testing.